Rangers held scoreless again

Last night, things just started getting ridiculous. The Rangers hit both posts, and the crossbar. And then Versus analysts after the game were actually sitting there praising Marc-Andre Fleury, even though the Rangers got the puck behind him on four separate occasions last night.

All [the Rangers] have to do is get someone in front of the net, and stop missing the net.

Bob is right. These blogger brothers talked about two things after the game last night: the lack of presence in front of the net, and Brendan Shanahan.

There is no doubt that the Blueshirts are getting good shots. It's that they aren't planting anyone in front of the net. The opposing goalie is almost never screened. As a center, Scott Gomez is the biggest culprit on this; he needs to plant himself in front of the opposing goalie and deflect some shots. We promise -- Renney, listen up -- screening leads to goals.

The other thing is Shanny. Yes, he carried the team for a lot of last season. But he looks flat-out lost this season. He turns the puck over, he often just plays dump-and-chase. For all that he was worth last season, he's lost that much value. That can change of course, but that doesn't look like it's happening anytime soon. (We wrote that paragraph before reading Larry Brooks today, who wonders if Shanny is losing his finishing touch.)

And finally, the only other comment we have after last night is getting Dubinsky, Dawes and Callahan on the ice more often. One of the Rangers best scoring chances -- and the only time all night there was a scramble in front of the Pittsburgh net -- was when those guys were doing their thing.

By the way, the Rangers have now played eight games. That's 24 total regulation-time periods of play. The Rangers have held leads at the conclusion of just four periods this season. Take away the game against the Capitals on October 12, and the Blueshirts have held a lead for just one out of the other 21 periods of play -- and that was at the conclusion of the first game of the season against the Panthers.

Meanwhile, Steve Zipay gives us the facts: 126 straight scoreless minutes, and the first time in the franchise's 81-year history that they've suffered back-to-back 1-0 shutouts. Zipay also quotes Lundqvist: "Once I gave up the first one, I thought I can't give up another." That's not exactly the mindset you want your goalie to have.

Looking ahead, Rich Chere of The Star-Ledger talks about tomorrow night's tilt with the Devils, saying the matchup still means something (We were wondering when it stopped meaning something). Indeed, we can hardly wait to see how much longer the Rangers can keep up their scoreless streak. Anyway, it is in fact surprising that tomorrow night's Devils-Rangers game will be between the Division's worst two teams...